Archive By Section - Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is now accepting applications for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). Created under the 2014 Farm Bill, this program provides funding for the purchase of conservation easements to help productive farm and ranch lands remain in agriculture and protect critical wetlands.

Every spring, I receive a lot of plants into the office for identification, and for advice on how to control the weed that is invading their lawn. Much of the time these plants are winter annuals or perennial weeds that are too established in the spring to get much control over. If you have dandelions, henbit or chickweed in your lawn, then now is the time to spray and get a better handle on the weeds. I have a short piece from Ward Upham, K-State Research and Extension's horticulture expert that gives you more information about the how's ...

Each fall, the Barton County Extension Council holds an election to fill positions on the four program development committees. Please mark Wednesday, Nov. 2, on your calendar and stop by the Barton County Extension Office at 1800 12th Street to cast your ballot. The ballot box is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Any Barton County resident who is 18 years of age and older may vote in this election.

As you drive around the area, large piles of grain are plainly evident. The good aspect of this is a decent harvest. The not so good aspect is producers are sitting on a hundreds of millions of bushels and not thrilled about selling with current prices. Something the public may not understand is that while the grain is sitting at the elevator, the producer pays a monthly storage charge for every bushel. One dilemma producers face is that typically high prices mean that they have less to sell while low prices mean the opposite. Of course carryover stocks and world ...

Oct. 6, marked the dedication of the first byway to exclusively celebrate agriculture in this country. Located in far western Kansas and named the "Land and Sky" scenic byway, it follows Highway 27 through Wallace, Sherman and Cheyenne counties.

they could have been much worse without predators like the Lady Beetle gobbling all that they could. In nature, when food supplies are high, predators produce more offspring, which in turn have their fill of dinner, and also reproduce. The cycle goes on and on until the food source is exhausted. This year, with so many sugarcane aphids as a food source for the Lady Beetle, many more beetles were produced than in previous years.

The Barton, Rush, Pawnee County Conservation Districts are sponsoring a "USDA Informational Workshop" at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1, at the Wetlands educational Center located on US HWY 156 across from Cheyenne Bottoms.

The area is in the middle of autumn and just like summer the weather pattern isn't "normal." Many parts of Kansas experienced well-above normal rainfall and some sites have reported 50 inches with over two months left in the year. Much of Southwest Kansas has moved to abnormally dry with a portion now in moderate drought. This is after an extremely wet summer so what happened to the soil moisture? How is fall harvest progressing? Where is the 2017 wheat crop at? How different has this fall been so far?

Upland game hunters remain positive about a good season this fall in Kansas. Talk with landowners in the western half of Kansas and they will tell you rainfall this summer has resulted in more birds for the upcoming fall season. This year promises to be as good as 2015 and maybe better as hunters scour the countryside in search of pheasants, quail, ducks and other species of wildlife.

Though we often think of soil testing as a spring chore, fall can actually be a better time. Soil-testing laboratories are often very busy during the spring resulting in a longer turnaround from submission to recommendations. Also, soils in the spring are often waterlogged, making taking samples difficult. If your soil test suggests more organic matter, fall is a much better season because materials are more available than in the spring, and fresher materials can be used without harming young tender spring-planted plants.

The Kansas Rural Center's 2016 Farm & Food Conference will offer a wealth of information around the theme of transforming our farm and food system to better meet future environmental, economic and social challenges. With three dynamic keynote presentations and over 25 breakout sessions, the conference promises to appeal to a broad spectrum of attendees. The conference will be held Nov. 18 through 19 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan. A complete agenda and registration information can be found at http://kansasruralcenter.org/conference-2016.

The KDA (Kansas Department of Agriculture) just released the results of a survey of agricultural businesses in Kansas. Here is the first sentence of that report: "A lack of a skilled agricultural workforce is a top inhibitor of growth and expansion for many Kansas agriculture businesses." The shortage covers the gamut from entry level positions to those requiring advanced degrees with over fifty percent of the vacancies in three areas; agriculture mechanics, agriculture business and animal science. Another finding was, to quote the release: "Employers indicated that basic skills such as written communication and applied mathematics are lacking in applicants ...

The American Royal Association's World Series of Barbeque is a longstanding tradition in Kansas City, Mo., but in 2016 the event will take place in Kansas for the first time in its history. The Kansas Department of Agriculture will welcome the annual barbeque competition to the state, and encourages Kansans to attend this unique event.

On Nov. 1, the Barton, Rush, Pawnee County Conservation Districts are sponsoring a USDA Informational Workshop at 7 p.m., to be held at the Wetlands educational Center located on U.S.156 across from Cheyenne Bottoms.

TOPEKA – The Kansas Rural Center's 2016 Farm & Food Conference will offer a wealth of information around the theme of transforming our farm and food system to better meet future environmental, economic and social challenges. With three dynamic keynote presentations and over 25 breakout sessions, the conference promises to appeal to a broad spectrum of attendees. The conference will be held at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan, Kansas, on Nov. 18–19, 2016. A complete agenda and registration information can be found at http://kansasruralcenter.org/conference-2016.